Introduction of Novel
Ladies Coupé is a novel by Anita Nair published in 2001.The novel follows the journey of a middle-aged Indian woman named Akhila as she travels to Kanyakumari in her search for independence and on the train's ladies coupe, swaps stories with 5 different women who inspire her to live her own life.
Structure of Novel
Ladies Coupe is divided into a total of 11(10+1) chapters and among them the alternate chapters are unnamed. Akhila's chapters or her point of views and thoughts, alternate between the chapters of other five women. This helps the character of Akhila to think and to reflect about the life incidents she heard from her co-passengers. The last chapter is entitled as Akhila Speaks and it deals with the Akhila's decisions she made in her life after hearing and analysing the life stories of those five women.
Plot
Akhilandeshwari or Akhila is a 45-year-old single Indian woman from a Tamil Brahminfamily who works as an income tax clerk. She feels that she has never got the chance to live her own life, always fulfilling the roles of the daughter, sister, aunt and the provider. Until the day that she resolves to break free from her conservative Brahmin life and buys a one way train ticket to the sea side town of Kanyakumari to start a new life alone. During the process of her journey, she tries to find out an answer to the basic question which has been in pursuit throughout her life – ‘Can a woman stay single and be happy, or does a woman need a man to feel complete?'. She shares her ladies compartment (coupé) of the train with five different women.
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